African Families and the Crisis of Social Change

African families face serious crises today. They are under economic demographic and political pressures of all kinds; yet families are not mere hapless victims of global change. They are proactive resilient agents and creators of change. This volume studies global and national transformation from the point of view of families in local communities. Contributors are from Africa North America and Europe and provide socially and historically based culturally rich multigenerational and comparative perspectives on family life in Africa today. The essays explore contemporary change in African families and consequences for children and parents the elderly gender roles moral values fertility health (HIV and nutrition) and economic development. Ultimately despite desperate economic sociohistorical demographic and political circumstances African families remain vitally important for social and psychological support throughout an individual''s life span.